The Banking Call Center of the Future:
Creating a New Customer Experience

Customer interaction services blend high-tech with high-touch

Driven by deregulation, consolidation and information technology, the financial services industry is reshaping itself - moving away from traditional "brick and mortar" branches to focus on alternate banking channels. One of these channels, the call center, is undergoing its own metamorphosis. The traditional call center can no longer offer the services required to attract and keep the best customers in today's technology-savvy, convenience-driven marketplace. It's time for the multimedia interaction center of the future.

A Better Alternative

According to Bain & Company Research, winning a new customer costs 10 times more than keeping an existing one. Inevitably, competition for profitable, life-long customers is fiercer than ever, and financial institutions are searching for better ways to manage their customer relationships.

Alternative banking channels like the automated teller machine, the personal computer and, of course, the call center give customers the fast, easy access they want without stepping into a branch office. A 1998 study by PSI Global confirms that the number of transactions at traditional branches continues to decline, while transactions via alternative channels are steadily increasing. And the power of the Internet is undeniable -- 30 million households will be banking on the Web in 2002, compared to 10 million in 1998.

Telephone banking shares this incredible growth potential. PSI Global reports that the number of monthly transactions among telephone banking users has risen 55 percent over the past five years. Currently, households using telephone banking conduct an average of 13 financial transactions by phone each month. Financial institutions are well aware of the trend. A survey by Mentis/Gartner showed that 89 percent of banks with more than $1 billion in deposits provided telephone banking in 1997. This number is predicted to rise to 96 percent by 2000.

Call Center Evolution

As the Internet continues to play a growing role in the daily lives of customers, the need for call centers to adapt to this medium becomes clearer. Financial institutions are realizing that the customers of today, and especially tomorrow, are likely to expect much more than traditional call centers can offer.

To meet these expectations, traditional call centers are evolving into Web-enabled, customer-focused multimedia service centers. This blending of high-tech and high-touch gives financial institutions a way to differentiate themselves from the pack - by providing a new customer experience. The new technology gives customers the real-time response and accessibility they demand, while the ability to record and analyze the customer experience shows financial institutions what they need to do to keep the relationship.

Customer Interaction Services

Customer interaction is critical - from the moment of truth when a customer first contacts the financial institution, through the development and management of the customer relationship. In fact, 93 percent of CEOs rank customer interaction management as one of the two most critical factors to the success and competitiveness of their companies, according to Market International Research Company.

The call center of the future will provide improved "customer interaction services," the core of the customer experience. These services are win-win for both the customer and financial institution. Customers have more choices than ever before, with help just a click of the mouse or a phone call away. And, when handled correctly, customer interaction services help financial institutions lower costs, target more profitable customers and learn from the interaction experience. The call center of the future will have a profound effect not only on the customer, but also on the bottom line.

That future is already taking shape with new and emerging customer interaction services such as:

• Intelligent Call Routing
It's important to serve the best customers better. Intelligent call routing can help to retain the most valued clients. All callers are identified based on their account information and routed in the appropriate direction. For example, the most profitable customers will be routed to those agents who provide superior service and have the expertise to capitalize on cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Less profitable customers may be routed to self-service options or even collections, if necessary.
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)/Speech Recognition
Financial institutions favor self-service because it's cost-effective. According to a study by Booz, Allen and Hamilton, the cost of a call center transaction involving an agent is $2, while a transaction using IVR technology costs only 35 cents. Some customers are more comfortable with the guidance of an agent, but a growing majority prefers to conduct transactions on their own. IVR and speech recognition make this possible - the technologies are capable of recognizing strings of words and using voice commands to access the database, without the services of an agent.
• E-Mail Management
Websites with an icon for e-mail inquiries are commonplace, but Web-enabled call centers go a step further by allowing the agent to provide an e-mail response, conduct a Web chat or make a follow-up call - all while viewing the customer's account information (which can help determine which response is warranted). The most common response is a follow-up call, and a split screen shows the agent exactly what the customer sees - the agent can even move the customer's cursor during the transaction. Another plus for routing e-mails to call centers is the ability to track when e-mails come in, who answered them, how problems were resolved and more. This provides accurate management of all customer contact.
• Recording and Analyzing the Customer Experience
One of the hottest trends today is to make call center transactions more enjoyable for the customer. By digitally recording agent calls, it's possible not only to monitor agent quality, but to document the entire customer experience. Recording, analyzing and scoring the customer experience is one of the best ways to learn what works - and what doesn't.

Embracing the Call Center of the Future

Call centers and the customer experience will never be the same again. Whether leveraging an existing investment or starting from scratch, the first step is to evaluate current customer interaction practices and then develop a winning customer interaction strategy and process design.

Early adopters of Web-enabled call centers and multimedia services have already seen substantial cost reductions and increases in revenues and profits. The masses are heading in the same direction, turning call centers of the past into multimedia service centers for the future - and turning the phrase "call center" into an antique.

About the Author: Tony Floyd is Vice President and General Manager of Customer Interaction Services with BellSouth Communication Systems in Atlanta, Ga.